Caron Lindsay

Your last chance to send in your nominations for the Liberal Democrat Voice Awards

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 23rd August 2013 - 8:49 am

This is, absolutely, the last time I’m going to tell you about nominations for the Liberal Democrat Voice awards which close at midnight tonight. Don’t come crying to me if your favourite doesn’t make the shortlists and you haven’t bothered to nominate it….

To nominate, you need to send your suggestions to [email protected] as soon as you can. Please also feel free to publicise the awards on your own blog or via social media. In the olden days, before I was a member of the team, I used to do posts about the bloggers I’d be nominating. If you want to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Advert
Stephen Tall

I’m a liberal and I’m sticking up for Nick Clegg over David Miranda and The Guardian

By Stephen Tall | Fri 23rd August 2013 - 12:30 am

Civil liberties. It’s the issue that unites Lib Dems like no other. While you’ll find a range of views within the party on big issues that matter more to the voters — such as the economy or the NHS or even tuition fees — personal freedom, the right to live your life as you choose, is at the heart of liberalism. Nick Clegg made his name within the Lib Dems as shadow home affairs spokesman by proposing measures like the Freedom Bill and threatening to go to prison rather than carry an ID card.

Yet civil liberties is also the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 46 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Reminder: Nominations for Liberal Democrat Voice Awards close tomorrow…

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 6:58 pm

If you’re sick of hearing about this, just skip it. If you haven’t sent your nominations off yet, then consider this a reminder. I know I’ve been banging on about this a lot this week, but I wanted to put in a post in the morning, afternoon and evening so that most people would get the chance to see it.

Two weeks ago, I introduced this year’s Liberal Democrat Voice Awards and invited you to submit your nominations by Friday 23rd August. That deadline is now hurtling towards us like a herd of stampeding elephants. There has been a steady flow of …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Lord Tom McNally

Lord McNally writes…David Miranda and the reform of Schedule 7

By Lord Tom McNally | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 3:45 pm

Being a Lib Dem Minister in Government has both its pleasures and its downsides. One of the downsides is that if anything hits the headlines concerning civil liberties there are some in the Party who instantly assume that Lib Dem ministers have been passive and quiescent whilst human rights are trampled under foot. The case of David Miranda, and more broadly what we are doing regarding the use of the Schedule 7 powers which were used to detain him at Heathrow is a good case in point.

I’ve read with interest the views of a wide range of Liberal Democrats, both …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 52 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Bill Walker: the poster boy for a recall law

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 3:30 pm

The issue of recall raises its head today as Bill Walker, the MSP for Dunfermline, has been found guilty, as the BBC reports, of 23 charges of domestic abuse over a 28 year period.

The 71-year-old, from Alloa, had denied 23 charges of assault and one breach of the peace, but was found guilty of all charges at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Walker, who will be sentenced next month, has been urged to stand down as the independent MSP for Dunfermline.

He had been elected in 2011 as an SNP MSP, but was suspended by the party after the allegations emerged.

Walker was later

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 24 Comments
Advert
John Coburn

Opinion: Turing, equality and internationalism

By John Coburn | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 2:54 pm

What have we contributed as part of the Coalition government?  Well one success (but there have been many others) is enacting the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 which gives  gay and lesbian people the  same right to marry as heterosexual couples.  I have severe doubts that a Tory majority government could have introduced this reform!

Whilst Britain has progressed to an open society where LGBT people are protected by law, many other countries like Iran, Nigeria and notably Russia have not.  However liberal Britain did not just happen overnight, and the changes in our society’s attitudes have taken many decades to …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Anuja Prashar – At the heart of why Europe matters

By Nick T | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 11:38 am

Operation Black Vote has an interesting interview with Anuja Prashar, Lib Dem Euro candidate in London, covering a whole range of issues, including her views of the future of the European Union.

Here’s a sample:

Prashar, an OBV graduate from the 2011 Parliamentary Shadowing Scheme, is rapidly making her political presence be felt. Having shadowed Baroness Ros Scott, former President of the Liberal Democrats with who she has maintained a relationship, Prashar feels she was given a unique and exceptional opportunity on OBV’s scheme and was surrounded with like-minded people.

During my time talking with her she consistently reiterated the need for our

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

How to do Twitter, Home Office style

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 10:25 am

Oh, they have been busy bees at the Home Office this Summer.  The Go Home vans, immigration checks at tube stations, not telling Nick Clegg what they’re up to, it’s amazing they’ve found time for anything else.

On Tuesday they published their Twitter policy. While I’d like to think it was hastily drawn up in response to criticism of the way its account was used during the immigration spot checks, with statistics of how many people had been arrested were given along with disturbing photographs of people being bundled into vans, I’m not sure the wheels of …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

David Miranda’s detention – what do the public think?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 9:55 am

Polling firm YouGov has surveyed the British public on their attitudes to this week’s big news story: the detention of David Miranda, partner of Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who’s worked with Edward Snowden, the former US intelligence officer on whistleblowing / leaking details of the the surveillance activities of the US and British intelligence agencies.

‘Public divided’ is how YouGov’s summarised it, pretty fairly. This in itself is surprising: generally the public favours ‘national security’ over ‘individual liberty’ when push comes to shove. This suggests the police’s actions, possibly in themselves unlawful, have worried more than just the usual civil …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 15 Comments
Paul Reynolds

Opinion: The Egypt crisis and the role of the UK

By Paul Reynolds | Thu 22nd August 2013 - 9:23 am

For the benefit of Lib Dem members who read LDV I thought it useful to offer up a perspective on the current crisis as a contribution to understanding on the topic – especially important from a Coalition perspective given the UK Foreign Secretary’s recent highly controversial pronouncements.

Historically the military has had a major role in Egyptian society and its age-old pursuit of autonomy & independence – from the centuries of Mamluks to the post-independence military governments, and President Mubarak’s Western-backed thirty-year de facto military rule. The state, whilst strong on ‘security’, is generally incompetent and corrupt, such that it is …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 9 Comments
Sarah Ludford

Sarah Ludford MEP writes…Conference must debate Miranda detention

By Sarah Ludford | Wed 21st August 2013 - 7:40 pm

I was not initially planning to get particularly involved on the David Miranda Schedule 7 issue except as a concerned, nay horrified, spectator. After all, I’m an MEP not an MP nor (at present) able to be active as a peer, and I have plenty on my plate in Brussels.

But from early Monday morning, as I read the admirably vigorous response from the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation David Anderson QC – and the immediate if deeply hypocritical reaction from Yvette Cooper – I did start to wonder who from the party was going to be vocal. So I tweeted …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 35 Comments
Nick T

Why we should consider the detention of David Miranda and destruction of the Guardian’s data as distinct issues

By Nick T | Wed 21st August 2013 - 7:28 pm

The conflation of the detention of David Miranda, the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, and the story of the Guardian having destroyed the computers on which a version of the data released by Edward Snowden was stored was perhaps inevitable, and has certainly been encouraged by the Guardian. But we should avoid considering the issues as a single whole, for there are separate arguments at play in each in relation to the actions of the state and others, particularly when it comes to the actions of Liberal Democrats in government.

I have relatively few concerns about the state’s actions regarding …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 41 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Some more information on the reasoning behind Nick Clegg’s approval of the destruction of the Guardian’s information

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st August 2013 - 6:16 pm

I think it’s been quite clear, both in the comments to our earlier post giving Nick’s views on the Miranda/Guardian case that people were still unhappy and many felt, including me, that they didn’t really understand why he decided to approve the request to the Guardian to destroy the data that they held. Elsewhere in the Liberal Democrat blogosphere, people like Neil Monnery and Andrew Brown have expressed their concern about Nick’s actions.

This has not gone unnoticed by the party’s spokespeople. They’ve noticed that people have been wondering why they had a quiet word with the Guardian rather than …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 34 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference preview: The training programme

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st August 2013 - 2:10 pm

Some people go to Liberal Democrat Conference and never get anywhere near the debating hall, because the fringe, exhibition and training programme provide such a cornucopia of interesting and enriching entertainment. Others mix and match between debates and fringes.

This year’s training programme, which you can view in full here,  is intense. There are three and a half full days of sessions on a huge variety of subjects. During the day, there can be as many as nine sessions going on at once. The Party’s training guide has suggestions for courses to attend if you’re a local or parliamentary candidate, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged , and | Leave a comment
The Voice

Lessons of Coalition (17): The two biggest problems are betrayal and betrayal

By The Voice | Wed 21st August 2013 - 12:40 pm

ldv coalition lessonsLibDemVoice is running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’, to assess the major do’s and don’ts learned from our experience of the first 3 years in government. Reader contributions are welcome, either as comments or posts. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Today Alex Wilcock shares his thoughts.

The two biggest problems for any future coalition will be the breakdown of trust between the voters and the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 46 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s office speaks out on Miranda detention and destruction of Guardian data

By The Voice | Wed 21st August 2013 - 11:10 am

nick clegg by paul walterA spokesperson for Nick Clegg has released the following statement to the press:

We understand the concerns about recent events, particularly around issues of freedom of the press and civil liberties. The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation is already looking into the circumstances around the detention of David Miranda and we will wait to see his findings.

On the specific issue of records held by the Guardian, the Deputy Prime Minister thought it was reasonable for the Cabinet Secretary to request that the Guardian destroyed data that would represent

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 98 Comments
Iain Donaldson

Opinion: Secret courts and the detention of David Miranda

By Iain Donaldson | Wed 21st August 2013 - 10:28 am
For a number of years where it was felt that taking a case into court may result in information being divulged that could harm national security successive British Governments have settled out of court.
 
This Coalition Government decided that this approach was too costly and so resolved to introduce closed material procedures, or secret courts, for civil cases brought by citizens against the intelligence services.
In these secret courts the citizen will lay their case before a Judge, who will then sit in private with the intelligence services present but the Citizen not, and consider evidence that may never have been seen

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The most important factor for Liberal Democrats in any 2015 Coalition negotiations

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st August 2013 - 9:12 am

The Silly Season continues with yet more speculation on what happens after the 2015 election. Monday’s Independent carried the loaded headline:

Lib Dem Supporters spell it out: we won’t be fooled by Nick Clegg again over support for a coalition

That Liberal Democrats will be wary about any future coalition, with anybody, should come as no surprise. The deductive reasoning powers of the average goldfish could have worked that out.

The article quotes people like Martin Tod, Gareth Epps and Cllr Richard Kemp, all of whom are saying quite reasonable things, none of them suggesting that Nick Clegg fooled us in 2010, …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 31 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #339

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th August 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 339th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (11-18 August, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments
Mary Reid

Book review: ‘People Power’ by Dan Jellinek

By Mary Reid | Tue 20th August 2013 - 4:53 pm

peoplepowerDan Jellinek’s book ‘People Power‘, which was published last month, is subtitled ‘A user’s guide to democracy’, and in it he comprehensively outlines the principles and practice of democracy in the UK.

This is not a book for political nerds, although even they may find some new nuggets of information within. Instead he is writing for members of the general public who may be curious to know how our political institutions work. Does that sound like someone you know?

The title, of course, encapsulates the power of the vote at election time, which he describes as ‘the heartbeat of democracy’, but Jellinek is also deeply interested in participatory democracy and explains how citizens can make their voices heard between elections.

Continue reading »
Posted in Books | Tagged | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Reminder: Only 3 sleeps until deadline for Liberal Democrat Voice Awards nominations

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th August 2013 - 2:51 pm

Two weeks ago, I introduced this year’s Liberal Democrat Voice Awards and invited you to submit your nominations by Friday 23rd August. That deadline is now hurtling towards us like a herd of stampeding elephants. There has been a steady flow of nominations so far, but that won’t be much good to you if your favourite blog, or tweeter, or campaign or post hasn’t been put forward.

To nominate, you need to send your suggestions to [email protected] as soon as you can. Please also feel free to publicise the awards on your own blog or via social media. In the olden days, …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Sam Phripp

Opinion: A Liberal approach to Higher Education

By Sam Phripp | Tue 20th August 2013 - 1:21 pm

University campusWhen people ask me why I’m a Liberal Democrat, I simplify it slightly. Yes, it’s because I have a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament and I think he’s pretty great, but it’s also because I quite like freedom, and I think it should be applied more liberally (see what I did there?).

I always describe Liberalism as being obsessed with freedom. It’s a very simple way of encompassing so many of the campaigns and issues we care so passionately about. We raised the tax threshold, because people on low incomes deserve freedom from a punitive tax burden. We legalised same-sex marriage because people deserve the freedom to marry whoever they see fit. The changes to benefits – controversial thought they are – are about ensuring that people aren’t beholden to the state without good reason.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
The Voice

Paddick: Police have some explaining and reassuring to do on Miranda detention

By The Voice | Tue 20th August 2013 - 11:44 am

Brian Paddick has just gone on the BBC News Channel to talk, very briefly, about the detention of David Miranda. The former Liberal Democrat London mayoral candidate, recently ennobled by Nick Clegg, has a unique perspective on the issue.

He was quite careful in his use of language, but the overall impression I took from what he was saying is that he’s not entirely convinced that the detention was justified. He said that it was extremely unusual for a transiting passenger to be stopped in this way and that the authorities must have had some sort of intelligence that he would …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 52 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Why I’m not so worried about David Miranda’s detention

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th August 2013 - 9:46 am

When David Miranda was arrested under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act at Heathrow Airport on Sunday morning, he had the best lawyers the Guardian could afford at least  arguing with the authorities if not with him for all of that time, the newspaper itself and the Brazilian Government, concerned at the treatment of one of its own citizens, to stick up for him. Even then, the authorities held on to him to within minutes of the maximum nine hours. Holding the partner of the journalist who has been working on a story alleging that Governments have been acting beyond …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 42 Comments
Colin Gell

Opinion: We must end our silence on brain gain

By Colin Gell | Tue 20th August 2013 - 8:41 am

There is a certain phrase that summarises the immigration debate for me;  the one that goes ‘I’m not racist but….’  that gives people the opportunity to make comments that could otherwise be offensive.  We’re now seeing a sophisticated anti-immigration stance from other parties where they simply structure in racist comments and defend it as just being anti-immigration. For me this is what they tried to do with the ‘go home’ van ad campaign.

However as a party we’re not putting up much of a fight against this, and have been silent for some time, unless we’re responding to the campaigns of …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 33 Comments
The Voice

House of Comments podcast: with added Caron Lindsay

By The Voice | Mon 19th August 2013 - 7:50 pm

caron lindsayLibDemVoice Co-Editor Caron Lindsay guests on the latest House of Comments, the weekly podcast presented by Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson and Labour’s Emma Burnell.

So if you’re interested in any or all of the following topics — the state of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg’s position, your favourite minister and MP, gender balance, immigration, Mark’s “I won’t campaign for anyone who voted for secret courts” pledge, drugs policy, and much, much more — then you robably want to give it a listen.

Here’s the magic link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/house-of-comments-podcast/id579577529.

Posted in News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Lara Greer

Opinion: Your school needs you

By Lara Greer | Mon 19th August 2013 - 4:48 pm

What to do about social mobility? The UK has some of the worst rates of social mobility in the OECD, with little progress being made since the 1970s. What can we do to ensure kids from low-income families go on to earn more than their parents?

I will be going back to my old school in Edinburgh to talk to pupils who were in my position 10 years ago; the first in their family to consider university, pursuing a career without any personal contacts in the field to help. With 1 in 5 pupils registered for Free School Meals (as I …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments
Pat Moloney

Opinion: Liverpool City Region cabinet

By Pat Moloney | Mon 19th August 2013 - 2:44 pm

In February 2012, Labour controlled Liverpool City Council voted to have an elected mayor without seeking the views of the residents of Liverpool via a referendum. In May 2012, a Labour Mayor was elected.

Now there is a proposal for the six local authorities in the Liverpool City Region (Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St. Helens, Wirral and Halton) to establish a combined city region cabinet to promote economic development, transport and employment and skills in the Liverpool City Region.

Whilst it is welcome for local authorities to co-operate, the mechanism of this proposal is hugely undemocratic and has completely bypassed locally elected councillors.

The …

Continue reading »
Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Tagged and | 8 Comments
The Voice

Federal Conference directory available

By The Voice | Mon 19th August 2013 - 1:15 pm

The directory, with fringe listings and ministerial Q&A sessions, for the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference on 14th-18th September is now available here. So plan your fringe programme today.

Your particular attention is drawn to the Liberal Democrat Voice Awards at 10pm on Saturday evening.

Liberal Democrat Voice
Liberal Democrat Voice Awards (incorporating Blog of the Year)
The BOTYs are back with new categories alongside old favourites. Join us for an evening of unrivalled glamour and fun with Nick Clegg and surprise guests as we celebrate the best of blogs, people and media. Dress: imaginative.
Crowne Plaza, Castle 2

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | Tagged | 4 Comments
The Voice

Cameron plans second coalition, or does he?

By The Voice | Mon 19th August 2013 - 10:56 am

The Daily Telegraph is reporting today that David Cameron is planning for a second coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

The Prime Minister has held private talks with Cabinet ministers over new Conservative Party rules which would make it easier to strike another deal.

This is all very sensible. In the absolute monarchy mitigated by occasional regicide that is the Conservative Party, tighter rules to clamp down on the backbench naysayers to a coalition would be very prudent, just in case.

Under the plans, backbench Tories would be consulted on the new power-sharing agreement with the final text being put to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 29 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    Weird that this appears to be the first LDV article about this, and the first time anyone in the parliamentary party has spoken up about it (as far as I'm aware...
  • Jack
    Delighted to see conference overwhelmingly reject the EHRC guidance (they don't deserve three quarters of that name - I accept they are a commission). People ar...
  • Geoff Reid
    Somebody had to say it eventual!y. Thank you Tom for inviting us to be honest on this matter....
  • Hywel
    Important point there Paul. For all the angst about 'lack of cut through' that has pretty much been the case for most of the time the LIb Dems existed except f...
  • Roland
    @Gwyn, I agree with David Raw about relative urgency. However, even in the list of political reforms, I would put changes to voting way below the changes that n...